Steam-hammer



'Its-ACH. STEAM A ND ATMOSPHERIC HAMMER.

No. 29,854. APatented Sept. 4, 1860.

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vUNTED STATES PATENT UFFC THOMAS BEACH, OF FREEPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

STEAM-HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

T o @ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, THOMAS BEACH, of Freeport, in the county of Armstrong and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Steam and Atmospheric Hammers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawing, forming part of this specification, which is a perspective representation of a steam-hammer constructed with my improvement, a portion of the steam-cylinder and piston being represented as removed and the piston-rod being shown in section for the purpose of showing the mode of connecting the hammer-shaft therewith.

My invention consists in the mode of connecting the hammer shaft with the piston rod of the steam or air cylinder of steam or atmospheric hammers, whereby the length of the hammer-shaft below the steam or air cylinder may be regulated at pleasure, so as to adjust the stroke of the hammer to suit the size of the mass of metal to be hammered, without any loss of steam or reduction in length of the stroke of the piston.

In the use of steam hammers, as ordinarily constructed, there is a great loss of steam and of power for want of some convenient and etiicient mode of regulating the stroke of the hammer to suit the varying thickness of the masses of metal to be forged thereby. For example: if the hammer is so made as to strike the anvil when no substance is intervened; and a mass of metal say two feet in diameter is placed upon the anvil to be forged, it is plain that the hammer will not descend as far as before by two feet, and if the hammer shaft is (as usual) unadjustable in length, the piston will not complete its stroke in the cylinder' by two feet, and consequently there is a great loss of power, the stroke of the hammer being shortened; and in steam hammers there is a great loss of steam. My invention is designed to remedy this serious defect in a simple and efficient manner, and is equally applicable to steam and atmospheric hammers.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improvement I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

n the drawing a o is the frame which supports the steam or air cylinder, (as the 29,854, dated September 4, 1860.

case may be,) in a vertical position. The cylinder Z) is closed at both ends by the heads c, c, through the center of which passes the hollow piston rod (Z. To the piston rod Z is attached the piston e in the usual manner. d

The cylinder o is furnished with a steam chest f and valve g, as seen in the drawing; but the mode of operating the piston so as to give the necessary stroke to the hammer may bc varied to suit the various kinds of steam and atmospheric hammers.

To the lower end of the hollow piston rod rZ is attached the cross head ZL which works 0 on slides z', z' attached to the perpendicular sides of the frame a, a, and thus the stroke of the piston rod is guided vertically.

Through the center of the hollow piston rod is passed the hammer shaft 7c the dianr eter of which is such as to permit it to slide easily, but without any lateral play, up and down in the hollow piston rod which surrounds it as a sleeve. The bore of the piston rod is smooth and cylindrical, and the hammer shaft 7c is smooth in the middle, but at each end there is turned the threads of a screw as at Zc, Ze. The screws on the hammer shaft Zu do not interfere with the free passage up and down of the shaft 7c in 8 its sleeve (the piston rod) (Z. A screw nut Z is screwed over the screw Zt on the upper end of the hammer shaft which projects above the top or head c of the cylinder '6, and a similar screw nut m is screwed on to the lower end 7c of the hammer shaft. Now it is manifest that by turning` both the screw nuts Z) and m downward on the hammer shaft, it will be raised in the hollow piston rod (Z, and vice versa, if the nuts Z and m be screwed upward the hammer shaft 7c will be lowered. And as this raising and lowering of the hammer shaft Zr, inside of the hollow piston (Z, does not aect the length of the piston rod cZ, or its position relatively to the piston e, it follows that the length of stroke of the piston and consequently of the hammer is also unaltered thereby. The hammer `shaft 7c is furnished with a hammer n the distance of which from the anvil p is regulated as described by turning the screw nuts Z and m. Care must be taken, after adjusting the hammer shaft, to screw both of the nuts Z and m tight so as to give no vertical play of the hammer shaft inside the hollow piston rod.

The use of this arrangement which I have just described is obvious. If a mass of metal is to be forged under the hammer which is thicker than the distance from the hammer n and anvil p, the hammer shaft la is raised as before described; or lowered, if a mass of less diameter is to be subjected to its action, and in either case the length of stroke of the hammer is the same.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- So constructing and arranging the piston rod and hammer shaft of steam and atmospheric hammers, as that the hammer shaft 1.5

without interfering with the length of stroke 20 of the piston, substantially in the manner, and for the purposes herein before set forth. In testimony whereof, the said THOMAS BEACH hath hereunto set his hand.

THOMAS BEACH. wWitnesses MARTIN G. CUSHING,

J. D. HANCOCK. 

